CAT/C/43/D/331/2007
minorities in Burundi, run the risk of being subjected to torture or ill-treatment whenever
they voice their opinions or attempt to hold public demonstrations.
2.2
A letter dated 10 January 2007 from the President of the Ligue burundaise des droits
de l’homme (Burundian Human Rights League) mentions the complainant, noting that “all
those who criticize the authorities’ actions, like Michel Minani and others, run the same
risk of imprisonment”. Successive Governments in Burundi have reacted by ordering the
mass detention of PA-Amasekanya members. The head of the organization has been
detained on numerous occasions and his book and other writings have been banned from
publication. The complainant maintains that, in Burundi, political prisoners such as PAAmasekanya members are detained alongside ordinary prisoners. Conditions of detention
are allegedly cruel and detainees are often beaten and tortured.
2.3
Between February and May 2004, at least 75 members of PA-Amasekanya were
arrested in the course of a number of peaceful demonstrations, including Mr. Minani’s
brother, Jean Paul Minani. Mr. Michel Minani attended a PA-Amasekanya demonstration
in March 2004, at which several demonstrators were arrested. On 15 May 2004, following a
further PA-Amasekanya demonstration, the complainant spoke on behalf of PAAmasekanya on Radio Publique Africaine. Following this radio broadcast, he was informed
by a friend in the national security forces that he was wanted by the authorities. The
complainant hid in another town until he left for Canada on 28 July 2004.1
2.4
The complainant claimed refugee status upon arrival in Canada on 12 August 2004.
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada considered his claim on 8 August 2005 and
rejected it on 7 September 2005 on the grounds that he was neither a refugee according to
the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, nor a person in need of protection under
its articles 1F (a) and (c).2 The reason that the Board gave for its decision was that PAAmasekanya, of which the complainant is a member, is an organization with limited and
violent objectives, which has reportedly “committed human or international rights
violations”.3 On 23 September 2005, the complainant applied for leave and for judicial
review of the Board’s decision dated 7 September 2005. In his application, the complainant
argued that he did not hold a position of authority within PA-Amasekanya and could not
therefore be held responsible for its actions. The Federal Court rejected his application for
leave and for judicial review on 3 December 2005.
2.5
In May 2006, while he was preparing his application for a pre-removal risk
assessment (PRRA), the complainant found out about a footnote in a Human Rights Watch
report written in English, which had been used in the Board’s decision of 7 September
2005. According to the complainant, this footnote mentioned an organization composed of
armed forces apparently referred to by certain communities as “Amasekanya”, which
should not be confused with the Tutsi organization of the same name in Bujumbura. The
former has reportedly committed abuses against civilians, while the latter, of which the
complainant is a member, is said to be a peaceful organization. The complainant believes
that the authorities confused the two organizations with the same name, which resulted in
the complainant being denied the protection of refugee status. Since the footnote was in
1
2
3
GE.09-46723
The complainant left Bujumbura for Paris on 28 July 2004 on a false passport. On 29 July 2004, he
went by car from Paris to Zurich. He flew from Zurich to Montreal on a false passport, arriving on 14
August 2004. The complainant explains that he did not seek asylum in France or Switzerland because
the “success of [his] journey and flight depended on [his] traffickers, who told him what to do” (see
motion record, p. 63).
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951.
Notice of intervention and statement of the facts and the law, 5 May 2005 hearing by the Canada
Border Services Agency.
3